Our first experience of travelling by train in Canada was not without its challenges but it had a lot of plus points too. First, we were later getting to the station than planned because the person who should have met us at the subway for us to return the car was delayed. Then the station was frustratingly short of signage. Once we found the queue for boarding the train we were able to speak to a member of staff who took us to wait by the lift to the platform, but there was a

Although Orangeville had been our home for 9 days we didn’t really explore it until the last couple of days. The town centre ran along one Main Street, ‘Broadway’, where we found a mixture of independent shops, thrift shops and cafes. On the edge of town, the Island Lake Conservation Area provided a pleasant place to walk, though we did have to dodge runners taking part in a school cross country competition. We were glad of Racheal’s Treki chair to cope with my uneven paths a

There’s nothing quite like Guiding friendships, they stretch across the years and miles. Ann and I met a group of eight Canadian Guide leaders in 2008 when we went to Our Cabana, the Girlguiding World Centre in Mexico. We’ve been friends ever since. We’ve met up with some of them on three occasions in the UK, but this was our first visit to see them on their home turf. Sadly, they lost Ruby a few years ago, but the other seven are still as full of fun as they were 17 years ag

Our trip to Toronto involved various forms of transport, all of which Racheal thoroughly enjoyed. First a ride in our wheelchair accessible hire car to Vaughan, a suburb of Toronto. From there we caught the subway into Union Station, in the centre of the city. All very accessible and with plenty of staff on hand to help. Very impressed that every carriage had two wheelchair spaces, one at each end. After checking where we need to go when we leave Ontario by train in a few day

Elliot Tree Farm is one of the many maple syrup producers in the area. They also have a small museum about maple syrup production, and you can go on a tour of the farm. We had checked that the tour was wheelchair accessible and booked. It was quite nice to find another family on the tour who also had a wheelchair user as part of their group. While we waited to set off, we chatted about other adventures we had each had. I was particularly interested to hear that they had been

On Saturday we were invited to share in Thanksgiving celebrations with a dear Guiding friend and her family. Having never been to a Thanksgiving meal before, we didn’t really know what to expect. The house was full of people and I can’t remember the names of everyone, but we were made very welcome. Margaret’s husband, Terry, had made a ramp to give Racheal easy access to their beautiful heritage home. First, there were pumpkins to carve. Summer and Racheal made a good attempt

Thirty years ago Ann and I visited Niagara Falls in the pouring rain. In fact it was raining so hard you couldn’t see where the rain...

The first day was spent recovering from the journey, sorting out nebuliser issues with the help of friends (more about things to consider...

We had an early start to get from Terminal 4 to Terminal 2 for 9am. It doesn’t sound far, but with all our luggage a 15 minute walk from the hotel, a lift to the underground station, waiting for the train, the short ride followed by more lifts and a 20 minute walk from the next underground station into the terminal, we felt we had done 50,000 steps by the time we got to check in! Checking in was straightforward. Racheal had been given allowance for an extra suitcase in the ho

An apt choice for her bedtime story the night before our next adventure! We set off this morning to catch the train to Heathrow,...

We left Saddell heading for our final Scottish destination of our six week tour, Oban, following the A83 up the west coast of Kintyre to...

When we left Mull, We drove from Oban for a couple of hours down the Kintyre Peninsula to Saddell. We had booked a Landmark Trust...

Having followed the main road on Mull, a single track road with passing places, for 50 minutes we turned off down a winding lane then...

We decided to spend our only full day at Glen Nevis taking the train from Fort William to Mallaig. This is one of the prettiest train...

With the car once more loaded, we set off to Glen Nevis youth hostel, at the foot of Ben Nevis, near Fort William. This turned out to be...

We had three nights, therefore two full days, at Helmsdale. Having spent the first day mostly in the car, we didn’t want to drive so far...

When we moved on to Helmsdale Lodge Youth Hostel, we took the main road to Inverness, then crossed the Black Isle to Cromarty, pausing...

After a choppy sailing from Lerwick to Aberdeen when the best place to be was asleep in our cabin, we drove to Montrose to meet up with a...

We spent 5 nights on Shetland, our longest stay in one place during the whole Scotland adventure. We’ve covered the length and breadth of...

We spent a comfortable, but short, night in one of the accessible cabins on the NorthLink ferry from Kirkwall to Lerwick. We didn’t board...